Working for Social Justice and Equality 12 June 2013

Social justice is a core value of Oberlin College that has played out in many forms since its founding. Oberlin College students in 1964 helped establish Carpenters for Christmas to counteract a series of church bombings and burnings in Mississippi. These incidents occurred during and following Freedom Summer, a campaign launched to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi and other southern states that had historically disenfranchised black voters.

A winning essay written in 2011 by an Oberlin College student enabled her to participate in the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Ride. The event retraced the bus route college students took in 1961 in an effort to end segregated interstate travel throughout the South.